I posted this over at Scoble’s site, so I feel no hesitation about cross-posting it here, as there is zero crossover between our readerships. Every time I got cranky about Aussies (like the time six of them drank all the beer in the Bandas in 48 hours and we had to do without for a week till the Pelni ferry brought more) a single reference to Steve Irwin would calm me down. Any nation that can produce a man like that must have more going for it than I could even imagine.

Steve Irwin’s death is a great loss to the world. The sheer beauty of his enthusiasm for animals was inspiring to thousands of people, more than he ever intended or imagined. He was mobbed when he made appearances here in Canada, a fact which never failed to flabbergast him, but in this detached society we simply never get to see that kind of unreserved love; when we do, how can we help but be drawn to it?

I’ll never forget the time Steve was in Kalimantan, climbing trees with the endangered orangutans, and a mother gave him her baby to hold. He was thirty feet up a tree, but even in a long shot you could see his tears falling down like rain.

The man had a gift for not only feeling love, but for expressing that love before the world in a way that made us all around the world honour and share it, if only for a brief time.

And from CNN:

As fellow countrymen and fans from around the world mourned his death, it was announced that a state funeral for Irwin would be held if his family so chose, an Australian state premier said. “We will honor Steve Irwin in whatever way his family wants,” said Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, speaking to CNN affiliate Channel Seven.